The Door Lock (2021)

Nightmare for all women.

“It’s her right to live alone, not a reason to hurt her”.
Putting aside who the stalker is, what is also unsettling is how all the men in her life were acting creepy enough to be considered a potential perpetrator. The whole movie had little to no moments that did not make me feel uncomfortable.

Honestly speaking, I did enjoy it more than the Korean version. For starters, the police did not seem as painfully bad at their job. I am pretty sure they had less involvement in this version, but that was a good call. Detective and investigative work should never be the focus of a story like that.

Then I also appreciate how the female lead made more reasonable and smart decisions. While I appreciated some mistakes the female lead in the Korean version made, because they made her more realistic, by the end I was a bit frustrated. Here, they were able to keep the realism without making her make questionable decisions.

What the movie failed at a few times were the transitions between scenes and sequences - some felt extremely jarring and confusing - that made me rewatch some scenes to make sure I did not miss something. It just felt out of place.

My biggest issue though was the ending - as over the top as the Korean version, if not more. It was going so well with presenting an unnerving experience women can truly face in real life, and then they had to make it more dramatic at the end, completely unnecessarily if you ask me.

Still, it was a great watch. The atmosphere was perfect and some scenes made me want to go around my house and check “just to be sure and safe” that ain’t no creep hiding somewhere. The performances were also solid - kudos to all the male cast for delivering that creepy factor. What’s more, I enjoyed some of the audio editing/mixing and the music picked for some scenes.

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A good remake

This is a solid remake. I know it's originally based off of a Spanish movie, but I've only seen the Korean one. So, first things first, in terms of the two, I definitely recommend the Chinese version.

This film felt purposeful. There is a motive to wanting to tell this story. If you wait until the end, there are some comments made about how women constantly feel unsafe living alone because of the possibility of bad things happening. And this film chose to help audiences understand this.

In terms of the plot, there was a lot. The Korean version felt a bit too obvious, But this version had quite a few red herrings, and there were so many people the main character (not the audience) could trust. The stakes were higher because of this.

Additionally, it was actually quite terrifying at times. Just thinking about the possibility of being in her position is enough to make anyone scared. And this film really captured that. At times, you see her do small things to make it seem like there's a man home because she already felt unsafe. And despite that, she is still targeted.

All in all, it achieved its goal and in my opinion, was a successful adaptation that didn't follow its Korean counterpart

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